There are 9 parts of speech or word classes in English language:
– nouns
– pronouns
– determiners
– verbs
– prepositions
– adjectives
– adverbs
– conjunctions
– interjections

We use adjectives to express:
– conditions,
– quality,
– characteristics,
– feelings/emotions
of someone or something.

John is sick.
Sick is a condition for someone.
Sick is an adjective.

That car is new.
New is a condition for something.
New is an adjective.

Jane is smart.
Smart is a quality for someone.
Smart is an adjective.

That movie is awesome.
Awesome is a quality for something.
Awesome is an adjective.

John is tall.
Tall is a physical characteristic for someone.
Tall is an adjective.

That car is red.
Red is a physical characteristic for something.
Red is an adjective.

Jane is brave.
Brave is a non-physical characteristic of someone.
Brave is an adjective.

That lesson is boring.
Boring is a non-physical characteristic of something.
Boring is an adjective.

James is happy.
Happy is a feeling.
Happy is an adjective.

How to Use Adjectives

(1) We can use adjectives after linking verbs

linking verb + adjective

Linking verbs:
am
is
are
was
were
feel
seem
look
sound
taste

– That house is big.
– Jane was worried.
– John looked happy.

(2) We can use adjectives in front of nouns:

adjective + noun

– That is a big house.
– John is a smart student.
– Those are expensive shoes.

(3) We can use adjective to describe pronouns.
Jane is beautiful.
She is beautiful.

Those students looked happy.
They looked happy.

If there are more than one adjective in front of a noun, there is a pattern of order that must be followed.

She was wearing an amazing red dress. (correct)
She was wearing a red amazing dress. (wrong)

amazing = opinion
red = color
opinion is mentioned before color

Adjective Order

1. Determiner: a, an, the, one, three, my, her etc
2. Opinion: good, beautiful, bad, awful, important, lovely, excellent
3. Size: big, large, small, tall, short
4. Shape: round, square, rectangular,
5. Age: young, youthful, old, ancient
6. Color: red, green, grey, black
7. Origin: Dutch, Japanese, Turkish, Indonesian
8. Material: metal, wood, plastic
9. Purpose: recording, cleaning, cooking

Adjective Order Example 1

a strange, green, metallic material

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

a = Determiner (1)
strange = Opinion (2)
green = Color (6)
metallic = Material (8)

Adjective Order Example 2

a long, narrow, plastic brush

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

a = Determiner (1)
long = Size (3)
narrow = Shape (4)
plastic = Material (8)

Adjective Order Example 3

a big black American car

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

a = Determiner (1)
big = Size (3)
black = Color (6)
American = Origin (7)

Adjective Order Example 4

a wonderful 15th-century Arabic poem

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

a = Determiner (1)
wonderful = Opinion (2)
15th century = Age (5)
Arabic = Origin (7)

Adjective Order Example 5

that lovely pink and green Thai silk dress

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

that = Determiner (1)
lovely = Opinion (2)
pink and green = Color (6)
Thai = Origin (7)
silk = Material (8)

Adjective Order Example 6

his old wooden fishing boat

1.Determiner
2.Opinion
3.Size
4.Shape
5.Age
6.Color
7.Origin
8.Material
9.Purpose

his = Determiner (1)
old = Age (5)
wooden = Material (8)
fishing = Purpose (9)